Allahabad High Court stays notification on set-top-boxes

The Allahabad High Court on 2 March 2016 stayed a notification of November 14, 2015, according to which the Central government had made installation of set-top boxes compulsory for TV viewers with effect from 31 December 2015.

A Division Bench, comprising Justice Tarun Agarwala and Justice V. K. Mishra, passed the above order on a petition filed by Allahabad Cable Networks and others.

The court also asked the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to file its reply within four weeks.

The petition has alleged that earlier installation of set-top boxes had been made compulsory only in major cities but by means of the notification the same has been made mandatory across the country.

It was further stated that at present set-top boxes were not available in adequate numbers and therefore it was not possible to provide these to all the customers within the time fixed.

In spite of this, cable network operators were being harassed by the authorities, the petition alleged.

It was also pleaded that the time limit for installation of STBs in states like Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan has also been stayed by respective High Courts.

The High Court ordered to list the case for further hearing after one month and directed the authorities concerned not to take coercive majors against cable operators in pursuance of the impugned notification.